The invention concerns a device for stacking flat products, in particular, folding boxes, comprising a stack shaft for receiving the flat products, which has an inlet opening opposite to an impinging surface, and guiding elements disposed in side flanks, which guide the stack of flat products.
Folding box production plants conventionally terminate in a stack shaft in which the produced folding boxes are stacked into piles and from which the piles are removed. Due to great differences in shapes, sizes and folds of the folding boxes, the folding boxes must be stacked either in an upward or downward direction. Folding boxes with a relatively flat and smooth upper side are usually down-stacked. This is not possible if the upper side of the folding box is not flat or the blank has steps. A subsequent folding box could be arrested by one of these steps and become jammed. For this reason, folding boxes of this type are generally up-stacked, wherein the folding boxes are sequentially pushed below the previously deposited folding box (up-stacking).
In case of product change between two folding boxes, the stacking type may also have to be changed. Towards this end, the stack shaft must also be replaced to permit stacking in the other direction. This is time and labor consuming and therefore expensive.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to design a device for stacking flat products of the above-mentioned type which is suited for both stacking directions.